


Bad Morning

by toomuchagain



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Anxiety, Gen, Panic Attacks, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-04 21:06:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6675460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toomuchagain/pseuds/toomuchagain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack has a bad morning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad Morning

Jack woke up suddenly and completely, breathing and heartbeat fast. It took him a moment to get past the waves of cold racing over his skin and realize that oh, it was one of _those_ mornings.

Curling up, he tried to convince himself that he would keep breathing even if he stopped thinking about it. He thought about calling Kenny, but calling Kenny would mean telling Kenny, and even the thought made his heart jump into his throat and stop beating for a desperate minute. He couldn't tell Kenny, couldn't tell anyone, couldn't let anyone know how weak and pathetic he was, they'd _know_ and they'd support him but really they'd be so disappointed and his future would be destroyed and he'd fail…

No, he couldn't let anyone know how worthless he was.

Jack took a deep breath and forced his eyes open and his hand to relax from its death grip on the covers. Okay. He was okay. He had to be okay.

He was going to get up, he was going to eat breakfast and stretch and go to the rink and practice and no one was going to realize what a fuckup he really was.

So Jack did exactly that. He got up, he ate the breakfast his nutritionist scheduled, he stretched and went to the rink, only 80% of this time having to think about breathing, and not having to skip any sidewalk cracks at all, so that was a pretty successful morning, really.

It was when he got to the rink that it all went to hell.

He couldn't find his pills.

They weren't in his bag. He double-checked, emptied its contents onto the floor and packed them back in and did it again. No pills.

The rest of the team would start arriving soon, and he couldn't find his pills.

Fuck. _Fuck_.

He was hyperventilating. Fuck.

He had to get it under control. The team would be here soon.

Fuck.

Head overstuffed and heavy, and sight growing staticky and dim, Jack staggered to one of the shower stalls, turning the water on cold. He sank under the freezing spray, head between his knees.

He had this. He just had to breathe for a minute.

The locker room door slammed open and the voices of his teammates suddenly filled the space. Jack's head snapped up, almost hitting the concrete shower wall.

Time was up. No choice but to get it together.

Jack took two more breaths, stood, stripped off his sodden clothes, and turned off the water.

"Hey!" he said, voice even like he hadn't been breaking down two seconds ago. "Ça va?"

He was only shaking from the cold. He had this.

**Author's Note:**

> For the [CQ Challenge #1](http://coltsandquills.tumblr.com/post/142153729641/cqchallenge-click-here-for-rules-ready-your)
> 
> Song: Hotel California  
> Keys: Something misplaced, A secret, Time’s running out (either it actually is, or your character[s] simply feel that way)  
>  ~~Challenge: Setting is outdoors.~~ Skipped this part. Shhhhhhhhhhh.
> 
> Thank you so much to [tiptoe39](http://tiptoe39.tumblr.com) for editing! <333 You’re swawesome :)


End file.
